Kerr lens mode-locked Yb:Lu2O3 bulk ceramic oscillator pumped by a multimode laser diode

We report Kerr lens mode-locking of a Yb:Lu2O3 bulk ceramic oscillator with an output power of 1.83W, a pulse duration of 135 fs at a repetition rate of 78 MHz, corresponding to a pulse energy of 23.5 nJ. Single-mode oscillation and Kerr lens mode-locking have been achieved with a special geometry using a multimode laser diode with a low brightness as a pump source. To the best of our knowledge, the obtained pulse energy is the highest in any mode-locked Yb:Lu2O3 bulk ceramic oscillator. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics